The Horror of Meijo University
by DaRealSoru
Summary: Three years after the gruesome events at Yomiyama North Middle School, Kouichi and Mei find themselves as transfer students to the prestigious Meijo University. At first it seemed like a normal school, but the two soon discover that the University had a deep, dark secret... one that brings death... Rated M for language, death, violence, graphic scenes, and suggestive/sexual themes.
1. Smell of Death

**The Horror of Meijo University:**

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 **Author's Notes: Heyo everybody! I have finally returned! So, I recently finished watching "Another", and holy shit! That was one messed up anime, lol! Anyway, as the anime ended, I immediately had thoughts running through my head about a sequel. And since there currently isn't one (though I heard that a sequel is in the works), I thought: "What the hell? Let's make our own!" So here we go, lol.**

 **This will be darker than my normal fan-fictions. There will be a lot, and I mean a _lot_ of blood, death, language, graphic violence, and other stuff. Just wanted to give you all a heads-up.**

 **Also, this chapter may be a bit short, but the other ones will be a lot longer, so don't worry! :D**

 **Anyhoo, besides that, I'm gonna let you all read now. Ciao!**

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 **Prologue: Smell of Death**

"Run, Misaki!" A masculine voice called as two individuals ran down a long hallway that was rapidly crumbling in pieces behind them. On all sides of them was the smell of burning, rotting human flesh; the smell of which burned their nostrils and made their eyes water. Ringing in their ears was the sound of panicked screaming, fires crackling, and the occasional "thud" as they realized, with horror-filled eyes, that yet another student had fallen under the prey of death. Death...the one thing that all human beings fear. Never knowing when it will rear its ugly face, or how it will reveal itself to their delicious victim.

"Faster..." The voice panted as the owner continued running. His hand tightly held his comrade's, who, not saying anything, ran tearfully alongside him. "We have to get out now!" A loud scream coming from behind them was heard, followed shortly by a dull thud. _No..._ he shook his head as he continued running. _Not again...this cannot be happening again..._

"Sakakibara..." A female voice said quietly from the individual who the young man was running with. He looked back at her and saw an expression that he had never seen before: Complete and absolute terror. The sight of it unsettled him slightly, but he quickly recovered himself as he held her hand even tighter.

"Don't worry." He reassured her. "We're going to get out of here." The teenage girl smiled slightly as his words reached her, but the smile immediately vanished when she noticed something shiny behind him.

"Sakakibara!" She screamed as she pushed the young man against the wall. A sickening sound came a second later, and the young man saw with horror as a long, curved dagger was shoved into his comrade's right breast.

"Misaki!" He shouted as she collapsed to the ground, her black blouse now stained a dark-red from the blood pouring from the wound. He extended his arms and caught her before she hit the floor, and gently turned her over so he could see her face. _No..._ He saw with horror as the girl weakly tried to smile at him, but by then her strength had all but vanished. She attempted to speak, and Sakakibara had to lean down to hear what she said, and even then, he could barely make out the now-inaudible words that the girl spoke. Weakly, she raised her hand toward the ceiling, and then fell back into his arms. _No...please, God, no..._ " _ **MEI!**_ " He looked at her with tears brimming in his eyes. _Why...why did this...have to happen again...?_ As he wiped the tears from his face, an agonizing pain shot through his chest as a knife sliced neatly through his back and out his front. "Ugh..." He viciously groped the air as he tried to get his breath, but the knife had done its job. After a few seconds of struggling, he limply fell to the ground, his body resting gently against the body of his comrade.

Above the two, the ceiling began to crumble and fall around them, and the flames began to shoot out of the windows, shattering sharp pieces of glass all over the two. The boy weakly glanced to the end of the hallway, where, amidst the fire and smoke, a tall man stood, covered in their blood. _Why..._ He weakly thought as the roof started to fall down upon them. _I'm sorry...Misaki..._

 _.._

 _.._

 _To be continued..._


	2. The Ceremony

_Chapter 1: The Ceremony_

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 **Author's Notes: Heyo! Okay, so it's been a long time since I've updated this, but that's because I've been really busy with school, music, and with my gaming channel. But I have a lot of inspiration to do this now, so expect more updates!**

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"The efforts of the students standing before you is a true testament to the person that they can become in the future." A masculine voice said from the podium. "Going through hardships and overcoming odds with their fellow man, they have proven that they indeed are ready to face what lies on in the dark world ahead."

 _Sigh..._ Kouichi leaned back in this chair as he listened to the speaker continue. This had been going on for the past two hours, and he was ready for it to end. His short brown hair danced in the gentle breeze, and his round, brown eyes were glancing at the other students sitting with him. He knew several of them from his class, though the majority of them he had never seen before. His eyes eventually rested on the short, black-haired girl sitting next to him. Her left eye was covered by an eye patch, and her right eye, which was reddish-brown, was intently watching the speaker. The two of them were dressed in black gowns that nearly reached down to their ankles, as well as a square cap on their heads. The other students were wearing the same uniform, and Kouichi sat back as the realization of the event came to him once more.

 _We're finally graduating..._

He closed his eyes as he recalled in his mind the events of what happened three years before, when he first joined Yomiyama North Middle School when he was fifteen. Now here he was, eighteen years of age, finally graduating from the school that had been the grave of many of his friends and fellow students the first year he was there. Only a few people remembered what happened during the Calamity that had caused the death of over a dozen students that one year.

His eyes opened as the sound of applause reached his ears, and he noticed that the speaker had finished. He glanced over at the girl sitting next to him, who was still staring at the speaker; though he could see that she had started to lose interest, and that she was also relieved that he had finally finished his speech.

"And now, we will call each of the graduates forward to receive their diplomas. And once again, congratulations to all of you. You have all worked long and hard to get here." The speaker, a tall, elderly man with white hair and spectacles, said. He cleared his throat and looked at the piece of paper in his hand. "Naoya Teshigawara."

Hearing his name, a young man stood up and walked toward the stage. He was the same age as Kouichi, and stood at 5'7". He had light-brown hair that reached down to his neck, and round, light-brown eyes. His smile spread from ear to ear as he approached the podium, and Kouichi couldn't help but smile as his friend cheerfully received his diploma.

"Yuuya Mochizuki". The speaker called out the next name as Naoya walked back to his seat. The young man called began walking toward the podium, though unlike Naoya, he was shaking slightly. He stood at 5'3", and had brown hair. His round, green eyes showed both pride and awkwardness as he approached the podium and received his diploma. "Good job." The older man said kindly. After Yuuya began walking back, he called the next person. "Mei Misaki".

The girl sitting next to Kouichi stood up and calmly began to walk toward the podium. Out of all of the students graduating this year, she was the shortest; being 4'9" in height. She solemnly received her diploma and sat back down in her seat.

"Good job, Misaki." Kouichi whispered to her as the older man called out another name. Mei nodded gratefully, but she didn't say anything, though Kouichi couldn't blame her. He had butterflies in his stomach, though she very likely wasn't as nervous about graduating as he was.

"Kouichi Sakakibara". As he heard his name, he immediately stiffened up, but with an effort, he relaxed as he stood to his feet.

"Go get them, tiger!" Naoya grinned as Kouichi walked toward the podium. Even though he was happy that he had finally graduated, he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty. After all, there were several other students who had attended the school, and because of the Calamity, they would never have the opportunity too. Everybody lost someone during the last outbreak, though almost nobody remembered it. The only students who were graduating that did remember was Kouichi, Mei, Naoya, and Yuuya. They were the survivors who were caught in the midst of it when hell broke loose. They had lost friends, family, loved ones; and all four of them were relieved that they were finally leaving the school where it had happened. They would miss it, of course. They had made countless good memories, and many lifelong friends; but the pain of those who had died there weighed heavily on Kouichi. Though he wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even Mei, many nights he would dream of the blood-stained faces of those who died, the bone-chilling screams of those approaching death; and the memories woke him from his sleep in a cold sweat.

"Congratulations, son." The older man, who was the President of the school, said as he handed Kouichi the coveted diploma. "You deserve it." Kouichi bowed respectfully, and then walked back to his seat and sat down. "Now then," the President concluded. "Let us give a big round of applause to this year's graduates from Yomiyama North Middle School!" Kouichi joined in with the hundreds of other students, teachers, and parents as the sound of applause could be heard even inside of the school. "And in conclusion", the President said. "This is a time to rejoice for our fellow students. We have food and drinks inside, so go knock yourselves out!"

Several minutes later, Kouichi found himself sitting at a table with Mei, Naoya, and Yuuya as they enjoyed the food and drink that had been set out.

"Man, this semester's been insane!" Naoya exclaimed as he took a bite of a chicken leg that had been placed very strategically on his plate (in order to put even more food around it). "But we made it through, thank goodness."

"Now we can relax for awhile before college, if we all decide to go." Yuuya said, finished a drink of water.

"That reminds me," Naoya looked at his friend sitting next to him. "Yuuya, what do you plan to do now that we've graduated?"

"Hmm, I don't know." Yuuya put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I'll probably stay and help around the house for awhile before applying for a college. I've been thinking about studying in Tokyo, though that's pretty expensive."

"How about you, Misaki?"

"Mother wants me to stay home and help at the shop." Mei said quietly, as if she despised the fact. Kouichi completely understood. He knew that Mei and her mother didn't get along well for numerous reasons. He felt bad for her, as he felt like she was a talented artist, and if she wanted too, she could easily get into a prestigious art school.

"That sucks." Naoya pointed out as he finished his chicken leg. "Hmm...what to eat next..." Answering his own question, he targeted the large pile of rice on his plate. After taking a bite, he looked over at Kouichi. "And how about you? What are you going to do?"

"You really shouldn't speak with your mouth full." Kouichi shook his head. He leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "Honestly, I have no idea. I've been looking at different colleges and universities, and I've found a few that I'm interested in, so I'll probably enroll in one of them next semester."

"Whoa, not taking any break from school, then?"

"Not necessarily." Yuuya mentioned. "The next semester doesn't start for another two months, so he'll have a bit of time off. But I am curious as to what you want to study."

Kouichi shrugged. "Don't know," he admitted. "I haven't really given that much thought."

"Well, you have two months to figure that out." Naoya grinned as he leaned across the table and gently punched his friend in the arm. "Now then, since school's finished; let's party!"

Kouichi nodded and smiled at his friend's enthusiasm. _It may have been a tough road getting here._ He thought to himself. _But it was worth it. Being here with my friends, seeing them happy...and now we won't have that curse haunting us. No more._

 _.._

 _.._

To be continued...


	3. Proposition

_Chapter 2: Proposition_

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 **Author's Notes: Heyo! I'm back with Another chapter (Haha, get it?). Anyway, not much to say about this, except that I'm almost graduated from school, so more updates will be able to come! Yay! :D**

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"You said that you wanted to see me?" Kouichi asked the man sitting across from him. He was sitting in a large office room located on the fourteenth floor of a large building in downtown Tokyo. He felt a more than a little uncomfortable wearing his black suit and tie, but he knew that it wouldn't be appropriate if he had arrived wearing his casual clothing; so even though it wasn't comfortable, he wore the suit anyway.

"Indeed." The man placed his hands on the ceder-wood desk and looked intently at the young man sitting in front of him. "Thank you for coming today. I am Sir Tsuda Nobayuki, of the Meijo University Board of Directors. I understand that you recently graduated from Yomiyama North Middle, correct?"

Kouichi nodded. "Yes, sir. But I'm not sure how you-"

"We tracked you." Sir Tsuda said curtly. Seeing Kouichi's expression of alarm, he quickly explained. "Please don't think that we were stalking you at all, Mister Sakakibara." He said. "It is my job on the Board of Directors to find potential students who are currently searching for what the next step of their life will be, and to help them achieve that next step. We go through every high school in Japan, looking for potential candidates."

"What do you mean 'finding potential students'?" Kouichi asked.

Sir Tsuda laughed slightly. "I apologize." He smiled. "You must be confused. Please, allow me to explain from the beginning." Kouichi leaned back and nodded, so the other man continued speaking. "Like I said, I am on the Board of Directors for Meijo University. M.U. is one of the most prestigious universities on this side of the Pacific Ocean, with very few people being enrolled. We look for those who are especially talented, or those whom we believe have the ability to change the world by making it a better place; but don't know how to do it, or if they even have that ability. It's my job on the Board to find those students, and to help steer them on a path so where they can use their natural talents to the fullest." He paused to make sure that Kouichi followed, and seeing that he did, he continued. "There are many factors that the Board goes through when selecting candidates to enroll in our University, and you've likely never even heard of our school. Well, we try to keep under the radar, I guess you can say. We are a privately-sponsored school, and well...I've already told you our purpose."

"I understand that." Kouichi spoke up. "But why me? I don't have any 'special talents' in school. Why would your University be interested in me?"

"Because, Mister Sakakibara." Sir Tsuda leaned forward and looked at Kouichi intently. "We see potential in you. You may not see what talents you have, but we can see that great things are in store for you, as long as you take the correct path. Whether that path is with us or elsewhere, that is up to you. But I am here with a proposition: Enroll with us at Meijo University. While I cannot make any promises that you will discover your true potential in this world, I can promise that we will help you find the path to discover what that potential is; and hopefully, get you started with the task of walking out that path." After finished, he handed a slip of paper to Kouichi. "Classes begin in three weeks. If you're interested, my number is on there. Just give me a call."

Several minutes later, Kouichi found himself on a train heading back to Yomiyama, with the slip of paper securely in his pocket. He looked at his watch nervously, but relaxed when he saw that it was only 11 in the afternoon. _That was a lot faster than I thought it would be._ He thought to himself. He was afraid that he was going to miss his date with Yuuya, Naoya, and Mei. The four of them where going to go see the new "Interception" movie that recently released, and was being talked about a lot by their friends. Naoya had some time off from his new part-time job, and had invited the three to watch the movie with him. Yuuya was enthusiastic about it, but Mei was a bit on the fence, and only agreed after Kouichi said that he was going. Kouichi knew that it was because of her mother that Mei hadn't been sure. Mei's adoptive mother generally didn't care where Mei did or what she did, but for some reason lately, she had been a lot more protective; especially when Kouichi was involved. He didn't understand what the reason was, but he was glad that the four of them would be able to go to the movie.

Kouichi's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of someone sitting down next to him. He was a large, older man; who didn't waste any time in pulling out an old newspaper and reading it, occasionally bursting into a loud fit of laughter. Kouichi was about to turn his head in the direction of the window when his eye caught something off about the young man sitting in the seat across from him.

The black-haired young man had a small table resting gently on his lap, and on the table was sitting two items: The first being a small, black book with blood-red letters on the cover of it. Kouichi didn't pay any attention to that, but instead focused his attention on the beaten up rag-doll that was positioned in a grotesque sitting position; with its right arm twisted behind its neck, and its head looking like it was being pulled back. The doll was completely brown, and looked a bit like a fusion between an old teddy bear and a little girl. Kouichi watched as the young man opened the book to a specific page and began whispering words to the odd doll. Kouichi tried to read what he was saying by watching his lips, but it didn't seem like any language that he knew. _Probably some nut-job or something._ He thought as the train arrived at his stop. Grabbing his stuff, he squeezed past the large man next to him and proceeded to walk toward the exit, completely oblivious to the intent stare from the black-haired man with the doll.

"Hey! About time you showed up!" Naoya shouted to Kouichi as he ran up to the group. It was now 6 in the evening, and the movie was going to start in fifteen minutes.

"Sorry I'm late!" Kouichi apologized, panting for air. "I got back and went home to get some rest, and my alarm didn't go off for some reason."

"That's okay." Naoya playfully punched his friend on the shoulder. "At least you made it before it started."

"What did you go up to Tokyo for?" Yuuya asked out of curiosity.

"Well, I was approached by someone from a Univer-" Kouichi was instantly cut off by the loud sound of a car's alarm blaring across the parking lot. By the time the alarm shut off, Mei walked up to them.

"Good evening, Misaki." Yuuya greeted her. Even though he was still a bit on edge whenever she was around because of the events of the curse, he was starting to get more comfortable around the black-haired girl; though if he had a choice, he would rather have Naoya with him whenever she was there.

"Looks like the party's all here." Naoya said. "Let's go get our seats before the movie starts!"

"Sounds like a plan." Yuuya agreed as they began walking in. As they did, Kouichi leaned over to Mei.

"I'm glad that you were able to come." He said quietly. "I was afraid that your mother wouldn't let you."

Mei glanced in his direction as they reached the door, which Naoya held open. "She didn't want me to come at first, but eventually she gave me permission."

"Well, that's good." Kouichi smiled as the four of them walked inside of the building. Completely unknown to the four of them, their every action was being watched by a black-haired man who had been hiding behind one of the bushes across the street from the theaters.

..

..

To be continued...


	4. The Note

_Chapter 3: The Note_

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 **Author's Notes: Heyo! The next chapter of "The Horror of Meijo University is now out! I'm not going to say much, except that I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Thank you all for your support on this! It really means a lot! :D  
**

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 _"Run, Misaki!" A masculine voice called as two individuals ran down a long hallway that was rapidly crumbling in pieces behind them. On all sides of them was the smell of burning, rotting human flesh; the smell of which burned their nostrils and made their eyes water. Ringing in their ears was the sound of panicked screaming, fires crackling, and the occasional "thud" as they realized, with horror-filled eyes, that yet another student had fallen under the prey of death. Death...the one thing that all human beings fear. Never knowing when it will rear its ugly face, or how it will reveal itself to their delicious victim._

 _"Faster..." The voice panted as the owner continued running. His hand tightly held his comrade's, who, not saying anything, ran tearfully alongside him. "We have to get out now!" A loud scream coming from behind them was heard, followed shortly by a dull thud. No... he shook his head as he continued running. Not again...this cannot be happening again..._

 _"Sakakibara..." A female voice said quietly from the individual who the young man was running with. HE looked back at her and saw an expression that he had nver seen before: Complete and absolute terror. The sight of it unsettled him slightly, but he quickly recovered himself as he held her hand even tighter._

 _"Don't worry." He reassured her. "We're going to get out of here." The teenage girl smiled slightly as his words reached her, but the smile immediately vanished when she noticed something shiny behind him._

 _"Sakakibara!" She screamed as she pushed the young man against the wall. A sickening sound came a second later, and the young man saw with horror as a long, curved dagger was shoved into his comrade's right breast._

 _"Misaki!" He shouted as she collapsed to the ground, her black blouse now stained a dark-red from the blood pouring from the wound. He extended his arms and caught her before she hit the floor, and gently turned her over so he could see her face. "No..." He saw with horror as the girl weakly tried to smile at him, but by then her strength had all but vanished. She attempted to speak, and Sakakibara had to lean down to hear what she said, and even then, he could barely make out the now-inaudible words that the girl spoke. Weakly, she raised her hand toward the ceiling, and then fell back into his arms. "No...please," he thought. "God, no..." "_ _ **MEI!**_ _" He looked at her with tears brimming in his eyes. Why...why did this...have to happen again...? As he wiped the tears from this face, an agonizing pain shot through his chest as a knife sliced neatly through his back and out his front. "Ugh..." He viciously groped the air as he tried to get his breath, but the knife had done its job. After a few seconds of struggling, he limply fell to the ground, his body resting gently against the body of his comrade. Above the two, the ceiling began to crumble and fall around them, and the flames began to shoot out of the windows, shattering sharp pieces of glass all over the two. The boy weakly glanced to the end of the hallway, where, amidst the fire and smoke, a tall man stood, covered in their blood. Why... He weakly thought as the roof started to fall down upon them. I'm sorry...Misaki..._

 _..._

Kouichi shot up in his bed as the sound of his alarm clock blared throughout his bedroom. He was panting heavily for breath, sweat was pouring down his forehead, and his eyes had tears streaming down them. _What...what was that?_ He covered his face with his hands and tried to calm himself. _It was just a dream? It felt so real._ Taking a deep breath, he took a quick glance at his clock, and then suddenly his eyes opened wide. "Shit!" He exclaimed to himself as he attempted to get out of his bed, but got tangled in his ruffled blankets and ended up falling onto the floor. "I'm going to be late!" He dressed himself in record time, and after eating breakfast and finishing his morning preparations, he rushed outside. _Naoya is going to kill me if I'm late again!_ He thought to himself as he ran past a couple walking up the street. Today, Kouichi, Naoya, and Yuuya where going to meet up at one of their favorite restaurants. It was the 27th of March, and they where meeting up to plan and discuss a secret that they had been planning for several weeks: Misaki Mei's birthday.

 _Hard to believe that it's already been two weeks since graduation._ He thought as he continued running down the street. Graduation had taken place in earlier in March due to a tradition in the school to have students graduate earlier than normal, so they can spend more time preparing for the next course of life; which usually involved going to a college or university of some sort. Shaking the thought out of his head, Kouichi quickly rounded a corner, and ran straight into a young man walking in the same direction; knocking both of them to the ground.

"Sorry about that!" Kouichi apologized as he stood up and extended his hand to the other man to assist him getting up, which the man took. Without saying a word, the man ran past Kouichi as if he had suddenly been spooked by something. But before he sprinted off, Kouichi was able to get a pretty good look at him.

The man was roughly the same height as Kouichi, standing at 5'5". He had jet-black hair that reached down to his shoulders, and dark-green eyes that were covered by a pair of glasses. His slim body was dressed in the uniform of a school that Kouichi didn't recognize. _Maybe a transfer student for the next semester?_ The young man's hands were pale, and his long fingers twitched slightly as he started running. "Hey, wait!" Kouichi shouted, but by then the man had rounded a corner and disappeared. _What was that all about?_ He wondered to himself as he shrugged his shoulders. Kouichi started to turn around, but his eyes spotted a piece of paper that was laying on the ground.

 _He must have dropped this when I ran into him._ Kouichi thought as he picked up the paper. He turned it over to read what it said, hoping that it would give a clue as to who the man was, so he could return it. But when he read the words that were written on the paper, his face instantly turned into an ashen-gray color. _Im...impossible..._ His hands began trembling and beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. _This can't be right..._

Later that day, Kouichi found himself in a restaurant talking with Yuuya and Naoya. Tried as he might, he couldn't get his mind off of what had happened earlier that day. _**"Incredible, wasn't it?** " _was part of what was written on that piece of paper. Just thinking about what was written made Kouichi's head start spinning, and he reached for his glass of water.

"You okay, man?" Naoya asked as Kouichi downed the glass.

"Uh, yeah." Kouichi said as confidently as he could. "Why?"

The brown-haired man pointed toward the now-empty glass. "That's the fifth glass you've finished in less than fifteen minutes." He said. "You must be pretty dehydrated. Have you been exercising a lot more?"

"Not really." Kouichi shook his head. Yuuya looked at him with a strange expression, but then turned the conversation back to its previous topic.

"Well then, now that we know what we're going to do, how will we get Misaki to come to the meeting point?" He asked.

"Maybe Kouichi can talk her into coming." Naoya teased, at which Kouichi didn't pay any attention too. Ever since the calamity had struck three years ago, Kouichi and Mei had been becoming closer friends, even to the point that Naoya had asked Kouichi if he and Mei were a thing; at which Kouichi quickly (and uncomfortably) said was not the case. Sure, the two of them had been hanging out with each other a lot more, but Kouichi highly doubted that Mei saw him as anything more than just a friend. That didn't mean that Kouichi didn't have any feelings for Mei, though. On the contrary, the past several months, he had felt a strange feeling whenever he was around her; almost like she filled a hole that had been burrowed into his heart. He couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to her, or to any of his friends in general; but he couldn't bring himself to say that to anyone.

"Hey, you awake?" Naoya waved his hand in front of Kouichi's face for a minute before Kouichi blinked. "Dude, you blanked out for a second. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Um, yeah. I'm fine." Kouichi slowly sat up. "So, what where you saying?"

"Well, I was saying that maybe you can talk Misaki into meeting us at the aquarium, since you're closer to her than we are. It'll sound suspicious if Yuuya or I ask her, but she probably would agree if you asked."

Kouichi sighed. "Sure." He agreed. "I'll ask her." He stood up and began to put his jacket on.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm not feeling too good right now." Kouichi said. "I'm gonna head home and rest for awhile. Sorry guys."

"Stay safe out there." Yuuya waved as Kouichi walked toward the exit of the building. After he left, Naoya leaned over to his friend.

"So, any idea what _that_ was about?"

Kouichi walked down the street toward the direction of his house, hands deep inside of his pockets; and his mind full of complicated thoughts. Thinking about the surprise party that he and his friends had planned for Mei's upcoming birthday had been on his mind for much of the month, as they tried vigorously to plan something amazing; but ever since that incident earlier that day, his mind had been in a completely different place. Normally, he wouldn't let something like this ruffle him so much, but it was the note. The God-forsaken note that had turned his world, thoughts, and emotions upside-down in a moment. Kouichi was so deep in thought that he found himself walking in the opposite direction of his house, and instead in the direction of Mei's. By then, it was almost one in the morning, so the dimly-lit street was completely empty, giving it an eerie feel. He stopped in front of where Mei lived and looked toward the house.

 _What could that paper have meant?_ He thought to himself. _How could that be real...it couldn't be...right?_ He blinked as he saw a flash of light in one of the windows of the building, and an instant later, the curtains opened; revealing the slim figure of Mei Misaki, looking down at the street. "Misaki?" Kouichi asked under his breath. "Why is she still awake?" Mei looked down at the street, and seeing Kouichi, smiled slightly; and motioned to him. Kouichi was both surprised and confused, and motioned back. A minute of motioning later, Kouichi found himself inside the living quarters where Mei resided.

"You couldn't sleep either?" Mei asked quietly as she prepared the two of them coffee.

Kouichi shook his head. "No...wait, how did you know?"

Mei placed a piping-hot cup of coffee in front of Kouichi before sitting down in the chair across the table. "Your eyes." She said simply, after which she sipped from her cup.

Kouichi placed his right hand over his eye for a second, and then laughed. "Well, I suppose that the bags under my eyes gave it away." He chuckled, and then he quickly grew silent. "Wait, is it okay for me to be here? Isn't your mother sleeping in the other room?"

Mei shook her head. "She's gone for a week in Hiroshima." She stated, taking another sip. "So, what's wrong?" She leaned forward to get a good look at Kouichi, who sighed wearily.

"Well..." He didn't know what to say. Part of him wanted to tell her what happened earlier that day, but part of him dreaded the thought of her knowing. He didn't know why, but he felt like something would happen if she found out. "N-nothing."

"You're lying." The girl casually said. Kouichi sighed again, which resulted in the girl taking off her eye-patch, revealing her green artificial eye. "Tell me."

The young man closed his eyes and gave in, and told his friend what had happened earlier that day. Him running late to a meeting (though he didn't tell who it was with or what the meeting was about), him bumping into a stranger, and the strange piece of paper that he picked up. Mei's ears perked slightly as he described the note.

"What did it say?" She asked with a slight tone of curiosity.

Kouichi didn't say anything, but instead his hand slowly went to his pocket, where the paper was. Mei noticed his hand trembling violently as he did, but she didn't say anything until after he drew the paper out. "Do you want me to read it?"

Kouichi shook his head, and, after clearing his throat and wiping his forehead, read what was written in the paper: **_"Incredible, wasn't it?"_** The written was scrawled sloppily on it, as if the writer was in a great hurry. **_"The way the two of you survived the Calamity?"_**

When Kouichi spoke the word "Calamity", Mei's expression changed into a serious tone. After he finished, he took a deep breath, grateful that it was over. "It's been on my mind all day." He admitted. "There's no way that this could be real, right? Nobody remembers or knows about the Calamity the few of us who survived it; and this guy wasn't from around here, so there's no way he would have known. But if that's the case, then what's the note about? Is it some kind of a prank? Who is he talking about? How could he-"

"Sakakibara." Mei interrupted. Kouichi looked at her with a puzzled expression, but then paled when he saw what she was holding in her hand.

"Is that..."

"I received this in the mail earlier today." She said, opening the paper and showing the boy. The handwriting matched completely, but what was even more chilling was what the paper said. "For some reason, I couldn't sleep tonight either." Mei admitted. "I guess my mind was on this."

Kouichi didn't say anything, but instead stared with horror at the blood-red letters scrawled on the piece of paper that Mei was holding in her hand.

 ** _"Kouichi Sakakibara, Mei Misaki. Don't think that just because you survived the Calamity you are safe. The Balance isn't pleased with what transpired. Try as you might, Fate will gather what belongs to her...she always does."_**

 _.._

 _.._

To be continued...


	5. Mei's Birthday Surprise

_Chapter 4: Mei's Birthday Surprise_

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 **Author's Notes: Heyo! Yet another chapter! I hope you all enjoy!  
**

 **Also, random unrelated thought, but I recently finished Danganronpa...and yeah...I'm crying on the inside, haha.**

* * *

Kouichi opened his eyes slowly, pain shooting through his chest and side. It took a couple of seconds for him to realize that he was laying on the couch of Mei Misaki, who was sitting on the table next to him, looking at him with a strange expression written on her face. "Ow..." He groaned as he slowly sat up. As he did, a sharp pain shot through his head, making him wince as he held his right hand against his forehead. "What...what happened?"

"You passed out after reading the note." Mei said calmly as she watched the boy gently rub his head. "It was lucky that we were so close to the couch."

The boy looked in the direction of the window, and his eyes widened when he saw bright rays of sun bursting through the curtains. _What!?_ He thought to himself. _It's already daytime!? Just how long was I out?_ He glanced over at Mei, who was looking in the direction of the kitchen. Even though she wouldn't say anything, he noticed the bags under her eyelids, which suggested that she had stayed up all night. _Did she stay up all night watching me?_ He didn't know whether to feel happy that she was keeping an eye on him, or violated that she had been watching him as he slept; but then again, it's not like he fell asleep on purpose. "Sorry for inconveniencing you like this." He apologized.

"It's fine." She said unemotionally; standing up and walking toward the kitchen counter. A minute later, she walked back to him holding two cups that had steam rising from the top. "Here." She handed Kouichi the mug, which he took. "Careful, it's hot." She warned as Kouichi attempted to sip it, but burned his mouth in the process.

"Haha, yeah. Thanks!" He carefully took another sip, and then looked over at the girl. "Hey...Misaki?"

"Hmm?" Mei looked at him intently, which made Kouichi more than a little bit uncomfortable.

"Uh...well..." He didn't know how to put the words he was thinking into his mouth without sounding strange or suspicious. "I was wondering if...you'd like to go visit the new aquarium with me Thursday." The girl gave him a strange look, which made Kouichi nervous. "I mean, if you don't want too, that's okay. But since you said last month that you wanted to go to the new aquarium after it opened, I was wondering if-"

"Sure."

"Huh?" Kouichi looked at his friend with surprise. He had expected her to take some time before making any sort of decision, so seeing her answer so quickly threw him off. "You mean it?" He felt stupid as soon as he said those words, but no matter how hard he wanted too, he couldn't take them back.

Mei nodded. "What time works best?"

...

"Yo! Here he comes now!" Naoya exclaimed, pointing in the direction of Kouichi, who was running up to them. "Hey, man! Right on time! She coming?"

Kouichi nodded. "Yeah. She'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"That will be just enough time to finish preparing." Yuuya sighed with relief. "I was worried that we wouldn't be able to finish on time."

"So, what's the plan?" Kouichi asked.

Naoya's grin extended from ear to ear. "Thanks to Mr. Chibiki, we were able to reserve the meeting room for the day, so that's where the surprise will actually go down." His light-brown eyes rested upon Kouichi. "Yuuya and I will need some extra to get the final touches for the surprise ready, so we'll need you to distract Misaki when she gets here until we're ready."

"What?" Kouichi stammered in surprise. "But...I thought that everything was just about finished."

"Mr. Chibiki recommended us adding something to really tie the ribbon onto this present, if you catch my drift." Naoya explained. "It might take awhile for us to get it set up, so until then, you'll just have to make do with Misaki's company."

"But...what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to distract her?"

"Kouichi, buddy." Naoya wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Just because we've reserved one room doesn't mean that the rest of the aquarium is closed off. Go show her the exhibits of this place. Just keep her distracted long enough for us to finish. Once we're ready, I'll shoot you a text. 'Kay?"

"She thinks that you're the only one meeting her here." Yuuya pointed out. "So if she sees Naoya or I at all, it will only cause her to be suspicious, and possibly ruin the surprise."

"Well, good luck, Kouichi!" Naoya playfully punched his friend in the arm, and then sprinted off with Yuuya toward the entrance of the building. "And remember," he shouted. "Keep her distracted until I send you the text!"

"H-Hey!" Kouichi shouted back, but by then the two boys had ran into the building, out of both sight and earshot. He sighed as he took out his cell phone and checked the time. "10:29 AM", he muttered to himself. "Well, she should be here any minute then." He put his phone back into his pocket and, leaning up against one of the pillars outside of the building, closed his eyes.

 _"So, do you think we should tell Naoya and Yuuya about this?" Kouichi asked. "I mean, they're survivors of the Calamity too. Shouldn't they know about this?"_

 _"No." Misaki shook her head. "Best not too. Better for them not to know and worry about it. For now, the best course of action is to keep silent about it."_

Kouichi opened his eyes as he heard the sound of a twig snapping near him, and quickly turned in the direction of the noise. Just out of the corner of his eye, he could make out the figure of a young man sprinting behind the corner, out of his sight. _Probably just Naoya spying on me._ Kouichi shrugged. He turned back toward the street, and jumped at the sight of the person standing not three feet away from him. "Jesus! You almost gave me a heart attack!" He exclaimed as Mei simply tilted her head slightly to the side. "Well, I'm glad that you're here!" He smiled. "Happy birthday, Misaki!"

Misaki smiled and nodded. "Thank you." She said quietly.

Kouichi smiled, but then he remembered what Naoya had said to him earlier. "Well then, my lady." He said, attempting to speak in a British accent as he swept his hand in the direction of the door. "Shall we go in?"

Mei looked at him with somewhat of a confused expression, but nodded. Despite feeling a little embarrassed about that, Kouichi followed her into the aquarium, and they began looking around. Though neither Mei nor Kouichi knew that they were being watched by the same young man that Kouichi had seen earlier.

"There, there". The black-haired man said to something wrapped inside of his student jacket. His dark-green eyes darting back and forth between his jacket and the couple that he was watching. "It won't be long now."

Kouichi and Mei began their tour of the aquarium, and visited all of the exhibits on the bottom floor, stopped to look at the starfish, watch the jellyfish swim around their tank, and stopped for several minutes to look at and pet the rays. Afterwards, they went up to the second floor, where they found themselves looking right at the giant shark tank that was located in the middle of a large room; housing over a dozen large sharks.

"Hey, Mommy!" A young girl exclaimed in glee as she watched the sharks swim around the tank. "Look at those big fishies!" The girl placed her hands on the glass and leaned to get a closer look, jumping in excitement as the sharks gracefully flowed through the water. However, her excitement was short-lived when one of the larger sharks swam at the glass full-force and slammed into it, making the girl scream in fear, and causing the entire room to reverberate the sound of vibrating glass.

Kouichi was blushing a bit as he realized that Misaki had clung onto his arm. She had been so lost in watching the tank that the shark scared her just as much as the young girl, though Misaki didn't scream. Even though her clinging onto his arm was awkward, he couldn't help but smile as he recalled the time when the two of them were at the beach, and a somewhat similar experience had happened with a small octopus that had wrapped itself around the black-haired girl's arm. _She may be the bravest person I know, but deep inside, she still gets startled like I do._ Kouichi couldn't tell exactly what emotion he was feeling as he felt the warmth of Mei's body against his arm, but it ended all too soon.

"S-Sorry." Mei apologized, somewhat embarrassed at getting scared like that. Kouichi couldn't help but let out a little laugh.

"That's alright." He said. "The shark startled me too!" Just then, he felt a vibration in his pocket, and taking out his cell phone, saw a message written on the screen. "Hey, Misaki." Kouichi spoke. "Can I show you something?" Mei nodded, and the two of them walked to the other side of the second floor, where a large double-door was located. "One of the managers told me that they had a special exhibit in here that few people are allowed to see, but he gave me permission to see it with you." He opened the door, and the two of them walked into the pitch-black room. "Huh...that's weird..." Kouichi said as he fumbled around the wall, looking for a switch. "The lights aren't supposed to be turned off..." Just then, the lights turned on, and Mei was greeted with a loud "SURPRISE!"

Mei couldn't help but let out a small gasp when the surprise was sprung. The entire room was decorated cheerfully with multi-colored balloons, streamers, lights, and flowers (Naoya's idea. "She's a girl, so she must like flowers", he said). Draping down over the middle of the ceiling was a long poster that read "Happy Birthday, Mei Misaki!", and in the room stood Naoya, Yuuya, and Chibiki.

"Happy birthday, Misaki!" Kouichi smiled as Mei took in the scene. "I hope you like it."

"Yo, Misaki!" Naoya walked up with a large smile on his face. "Happy birthday!"

Mei looked around her with a bewildered expression. She had absolutely no idea that they were going to do something like this, and she didn't know what to make of it. "Wh...why?"

The white-haired librarian of Yomiyama North Middle School spoke up. "Much of your time attending Yomiyama, you generally distanced yourself from the others." He said. "You only socialized with others during the Calamity of '98, and then after that, you went back to not socializing with people."

"But just because you didn't hang out with us, that didn't mean that we didn't want to hang out with you." Naoya grinned.

"While we may not have always acted like it, you are our friend." Yuuya nodded in agreement. "And friends look out for each other."

"You've done so much for others, even if you haven't realized it." Kouichi spoke as he walked up to the girl. "We felt like it was time for us to do something nice for you."

Mei didn't say anything to this. She couldn't say anything. She had no idea what she was feeling. All she could managed to say was a barely-audible "Thank you..."

Naoya's grin spread from ear to ear. "Well then, I don't know about you; but there's a lot of awesome food waiting to get eaten, and I'm not about to let it go to waste!"

"Haha, be sure to save us some." Yuuya smiled.

Kouichi looked at Mei, who was watching the scene. He didn't know it at the time, but she was doing her best to hold back tears of gratitude; something that Chibiki noticed, but never brought up. Instead, the librarian came to her aid in a different way.

"Be sure to save an old guy like me something to eat." He teased Naoya, who was completely caught off guard by this. Before he could say anything, the librarian had tossed a plastic cup at the boy, smacking him upside the head.

"Oh-hoh, now you've done it!" Naoya laughed as he grabbed a handful of plastic cups and began throwing them at Chibiki, who moved back and forth to avoid them. Kouichi laughed as he watched, but his laugh was cut short as a cup slammed into his face, provoking Yuuya and Naoya to burst out in laughter. Kouichi grinned as he grabbed the cup and tossed it to Mei, who in turn threw it at Naoya. Within seconds, the entire room was filled with plastic cups being thrown around, and the sound of the occupants laughing could be heard from beyond the doors.

 _In two weeks is the enrollment ceremony at Meijo._ Kouichi thought as he and his friends continued to pelt each other with plastic cups and cupcakes (Naoya playfully threw one at Yuuya, who retaliated by throwing one at him). _Even though things are about to change, it's these memories that keep me strong._

Outside of the door, the same young man from earlier was leaning against the wall, listening intently to the ruckus coming from the other side. "Two weeks until it begins." He muttered to himself as he adjusted his glasses. "That should be plenty of time to complete preparations."

..

..

To be continued...


End file.
